Birmingham City Council Apologises To Union For Bin Dispute Statement

Birmingham City Council (BCC) has retracted and apologised for a statement made during this year’s dispute with the Unite union, which represents a portion of the council’s refuse workers. 

The latest dispute, which saw refuse collection workers take strike action, came about after he union claimed that the council made payments worth “several thousand pounds” to a group of refuse workers who did not take part in last year’s bin dispute.

The council said it utterly refuted the allegations made.

 During the dispute, commentary was made in a Cabinet reportthat stated Unite had “declared a willingness to take industrial action even if a court declared the action to be unlawful”. 

BCC has now retracted this statement and has apologised. 

The following statement has been agreed by the council and Unite and Unison after the approval of a negotiated settlement by the parties, which ends the recent dispute within the waste service:

“Birmingham City Council (BCC), Unite and Unison are pleased to confirm that all industrial action and litigation between the parties (the dispute) have been concluded by way of mutually acceptable settlement terms.

BCC – “BCC further retracts commentary that was made in a recent Cabinet report wherein it was incorrectly said that Unite had declared a willingness to take industrial action even if a court declared the action to be unlawful. BCC apologises for this commentary.”

“BCC confirms that at no stage in 2017 did either Unite or Unison attempt to prevent the council from discussing any intended role changes with the GMB.

“Whilst the council maintains that any payment made to GMB refuse workers, arising from the dispute in 2017, was made in good faith and following internal and external legal advice, the council accepts that such payments had unintended consequences and is committed to working with all of the unions to ensure that a cohesive and positive working environment exists going forward.

“BCC further retracts commentary that was made in a recent Cabinet report wherein it was incorrectly said that Unite had declared a willingness to take industrial action even if a court declared the action to be unlawful. BCC apologises for this commentary.

“All parties are committed to working together to provide a waste service that the people of Birmingham can be proud of and to this end are pleased to announce that the settlement terms have seen the creation of a working group (the Joint Services Improvement Board), to include council officers, trade union representatives and councillors, to ensure future disagreements can be resolved transparently and by discussion.”